Halloween party at Andaz Hotel at Toranomon Hills in Tokyo.... For me, it was just a great opportunity to spend Halloween with my mom in Tokyo, and particularly memorable because she did not steal any of my trick or treating loot...

They were the best of times, they were... pretty much exclusively the best of times 😉 It was a beautiful drive from Edmonton to Mahood Lake, nestled deep within the beautiful Wells Gray Provincial park in interior BC. The purpose: to celebrate my oldest friend Chris' birthday. He had moved to Vancouver, so his wonderful wife, Ashley, had planned a get-together with friends and family halfway between Edmonton and Vancouver, and at a beautiful, remote, BC lake. Lacking social skills and tact, Chris does not have a deep pool of friends from which to draw, so I was the sole representative from that contingent. Family was well represented and there in full force, along with the lovely Lucia. As always Lucia was as full of grace and dignity as one would imagine such a beautiful dog should be. It was truly an amazing solo drive out to the lake and the weather couldn't have been better. One night certainly was not enough time, but the time was well spent. It was great to catch up and on a personal note, a wonderful drive full of silent moments in awe of the natural beauty of western Canada. The magesty of the mountains, and deep blues of the placid lakes made a perfect backdrop for self-reflection, appreciation and the pride that one feels when driving through a part of the world largely responsible for helping shape the character and identity of the people we grow up to be.

I am using a first-generation Sony A7 with some adapted manual focus OM and M42 lenses with cheaper K&F concept adapters and have noticed overexposed streaks of light along the bottom of the frame of varying size and severity. The effect seems reduced when stopping down and also when shooting in lower light scenarios or in varying angles to strong light sources. I have tried different shutter speeds and turning on and off the electronic first curtain with no consistent ability to remove the issue entirely. I am trying to figure out whether this is due to a light leak with the adapter, reflections off the sensor, or any other possible mechanical issue that I am not thinking of. Has anyone experienced any issues like this, or know of any solutions? I am wondering if a Rayqual, Novoflex, or Metabones adapter would mitigate or eliminate the issue.

**Update: To update everyone on the issue, the mystery has been solved. The culprit is the shutter. The problem has progressively gotten worse and is now clearly visible with both native and adapted lenses in certain shooting conditions. The problem seems more pronounced at faster shutter speeds. Going back through older photos taken with this camera, with all lenses there were very subtle signs of the issue that were unnoticed upon the first inspection, but now that I am looking for the problem can easily identify it. I still don't know why the issues seemed to be more apparent with adapted lenses, but at least now know what the cause of the problem was, which is a real shame because the shutter still has less than 20,000 actuations.Thank you to everyone for their advice and input.

Houseboating in Japan is somewhat different than what I am used to in North America. There is certainly the same amount of beautiful (albeit different) scenery to behold and alcohol-fuelled singing is equally present:

Without a doubt, the best part of the shoot was when a Japanese woman tried closing the door of the cigarette vending machine that she was restocking and was surprised and apologetic when she realized that she was closing it on Blaine...

It was a pretty interesting walk down the alleyway to the studio space situated on a converted floor of one of Tokyo's love hotels. The experience of walking through the winding corridors of the building past the brightly lit screens of themed rooms to find the front reception was an adventure in itself..

We hiked the 75km trail from Bamfield to Port Renfrew (north to south), bathing in waterfalls, filtering drinking water from streams, singing made up songs (ask us about Ninny-Nat-Nat), sharing stories, eating delicious food (thanks Katrina), witnessing a bear, and bearing witness to some of the most breathtaking scenery that I have ever had the privilege to behold. There were challenges and triumphs along the way, blisters, the most delicious crabs, and the best damn burger you have ever had in your life!

Shinjuku Gyoen is a beautiful national garden about a ten minute walk from Shinjuku station in Tokyo. The garden was completed in 1906 on the site of a private mansion during the Edo period. The site is 144 acres (58.3 hectares) and has a circumference of 3.5 kilometres and is said to blend three distinct styles: French Formal Garden, English Landscape Garden, and Traditional Japanese Garden...

Alcohol tends to enhance dexterity, judgement, and coordination - three attributes that are required when working with fire - so naturally this leads to positive results. Many of which are visible noticeable in the form of burns on the dive boats the following day. It would seem, at first glance, that frizzy hair, a stuporous gait, glazed eyes, and a flaming limbo stick or jump rope wouldn't mix, but let me assure you, they mix extremely well...

The menu has pictures of all the dogs that are currently available, and for what I think are obvious reasons, the menu gets updated daily. Patrons don't have to choose from the menu, however. The dogs are actually running around a common area between all of the tables, so if you choose, you can select a dog by site rather than selecting its picture from the menu. I think the appeal of being able to select a dog on the spot is that...

The Camia II was intentionally sunk on January 8th, 2001 in 30 meters of water just off the west shore of Boracay in the Philippines. The wreck of the 30 meter long cargo ship is resting on a sandy bottom at a depth of just less than 30 meters with the top at 18 meters below the surface of the water. The ship has turned into a great artificial reef and is now home to scorpionfish, trevallies, red bass, fireworms, nudibranchs, copper sweepers, schools of batfish, and other interesting life. This video includes a swim-through of the wreck and footage of the life surrounding this great wreck.